Shown here are several birch, apple, and pine trees that were treated last year with fire mimicry. Telling from the photos it appears that the birch trees have response moderately, and the apple trees have responded significantly! The pine trees have yet to show much response. This seems to be typical of pines, which can take several years before showing visible responses (see here and here).
This is exciting news! A coast live oak in Big Sur appears to have been cured of two stem canker infections (possibly Sudden Oak Death) using fire mimicry and surgical methods. Furthermore, no new infections have occurred on this tree. While I’ve reported on the progress of other coast live oaks that have received fire mimicry and surgery (see here, here, and here), this is the first oak that I feel confident has been cured of a stem canker infection!
There is also evidence at the same site that the deep cracks forming in other coast live oaks, cracks that allow infection by stem canker disease, are healing well. And, no new cracks are forming. Published studies have shown that “the presence of unweathered bark in bark furrows, (is) positively correlated with disease (Sudden Oak Death)”. Note in the photo below that the exposed unweathered bark is healing.
I recently inspected several cork oak, coast live oak, mayten, bay laurel, and cedar trees that I treated with fire mimicry methods in February of this year. The positive responses of these trees to the treatments after just six months are pleasantly surprising. The photos below tell the happy story . . .
A few weeks ago I gave a talk on “Applying Gaia theory to forest restoration”. The talk was arranged and recorded by my lovely daughter Ava Klinger, who works for Gaia University. I’m also proud to be involved with Gaia University as an external reviewer of students.
The link to talk is here. Enjoy!
Nearly two years ago I treated several coast live oaks with fire mimicry. On three of the oaks I performed a surgical procedure to remove the stem canker infections (possibly sudden oak death). The procedure involves surgically removing the infected tissue with an axe, followed by a chisel. Lately I’ve been using a multi tool which does an excellent job at cutting infected bark and wood. Following surgery I’ve been cauterizing the wound with a propane blow torch, then applying a lime wash to the entire trunk. Below are photos of two of the surgeries two years later and I am pleased to report that the wounds are healing up nicely and there is no sign of further infection in these oaks. I would say the procedure is still experimental at this point, but I am more confident to keep trying it after seeing these results. Also below are photos depicting the surgical methods and equipment, as well as other photos sets of the oaks response to a single treatment after two years.
Surgical scar after nearly two years of healing. Note absence of any bleeding or other sign of infection. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently inspected a grove of oaks that I treated with fire mimicry methods four years ago. Two of these oaks have stem canker infections, possibly Sudden Oak Death, that were present before the oaks were treated. As the photo sets show, the oaks responded dramatically after only one year. The property owners, pleased with the results, opted to not continue treatments of their oaks despite my recommendation that the oaks receive at least three annual treatments. While some of the oaks are still showing improvement four years after the 2012 treatment, these photos demonstrate that the oaks have undergone a clear decrease in canopy density after the initial response. I believe this decline is because they did not receive followup treatments.
Consider the huge volume of soil encompassed by the roots of an oak tree. These soils have been undergoing nutrient depletion for however long its been since a fire last burned, decades, perhaps centuries ago. Reconditioning this large volume of soil by replacing lost nutrients, especially alkaline-rich minerals, takes a significant effort that requires fertilization over several years.
These results further demonstrate the efficacy of the fire mimicry approach. Not only is there a positive response when we apply these methods, there is also a negative response when we forgo these methods.
Last April (2015) I was contacted by a home owner in Ross, CA (Marin County) regarding a very sick coast live oak tree (above) growing near his home. I promptly inspected the oak and found it was badly infected with a stem canker disease (probably Sudden Oak Death) and told him that I was not optimistic it could be helped. During my inspection I found few other oaks with SOD-like cankers. He asked that I try the fire mimicry techniques to see if they would help his sick oaks.
I visited the oaks last week to inspect and photograph their response. The photos show that the very sick oak has surprisingly responded with a nice flush of leaves in just one year. Several of the other sick oaks have also shown a good response (see below). The sick oak still has a severe stem canker infection and may not survive in the long run, but this is further evidence that we can improve the health and extend the lives of diseased oaks.
This past Earth Day (April 22) I visited Esalen Institute in Big Sur and spoke on results of forest restoration using fire mimicry in California to the farm and garden staff. I also had the occasion to inspect and photograph several oaks that were treated with fire mimicry at an Earth Day event in 2012. These photos show pretty remarkable improvement in the canopy size and density of the oaks over the past four years, with one exception. The last oak in the photo sets below is in a very windy location. It has shown slight improvement over the years, but this year is exhibiting some browning of the leaves. I suspect this browning is a result of the very dry conditions in 2015. All of these oaks will receive another round of care this spring. Many thanks to the Esalen community for their support of this oak restoration effort!
There is a small grove of ponderosa pines up in Sonoma county being tended with fire mimicry techniques. I’ve been tracking their progress for 6 years and, while slow to respond initially, they are now showing noticeable improvement in canopy density. All the pines below have been treated EXCEPT for the last pine.
Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger 
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